Sunday, October 14, 2007

There is always that one guy

In every class, there is that one guy who takes over and derails the class into what he wants instead of what the class is trying to focus on. And that one guy is always always always a guy, women don't do that very often.

Ruth (a genius brainiac math major) and I were talking about that one guy the other night. The current guy driving her to distraction has been nicknamed "Hairlip" not because he has one but because she says "If you saw him, you'd understand". He likes to interrupt when other people ask questions in order to change the focus to him.

I don't have a nickname for the guy that's bugging me, but the way he derails my physical anthropology class every fucking time has started to get to me. The first night of class he made a comment about how "we all can agree that there are too many women having babies that they can't raise". Uhm - no we can't all agree on that.

As class has progressed, it's become really fucking obvious that this is a Nice GuyTM who is trying to find biological justification for why women won't fuck him. He derailed the class the other night to talk about how we are biologically programed to choose a mate and that studies have shown that women all over the world want men who are 3 to 5 years older than them and financially secure and that men want youth and beauty. The professor (god love him) tried to tell him that it might be culturally based and not biological, but the guy just kept screaming about studies in babies. I interrupted his rant. "All of those attributes are culturally determined, name one country in that study where women have greater economic power than men- name one. You can't and until women have economic power of course they are going to choose men with money over men with looks". He continued screaming about babies for a minute. Then we took a break (It's a 3 hour class).

Outside, a young woman, maybe 21 thanked me for interrupting the guy. Ruth, who interrupted Hairlip after another woman asked a question that Hairlip derailed, also got a thank you. Ruth and I both agreed that there was a sense of "fuck yeah" after finally getting the assholes to shut up for a second.

I wonder how long I can hold out until I just scream out in class that "the reason you're not getting laid is cause you're an asshole, not because of biology!" We'll see how it goes.

9 comments:

Ouyang Dan said...

sometimes they just need to hear it.
the truth hurts...the sooner he knows the sooner he can start his twelve steps.

i have fucktards like that

The Red Queen said...

Do they have a 12 step program for entitled male privilege- cause damn that would be teh awesome!

I thought "I have fucktards like that" was perfectly understandable- cause fucktards like that are universal.

Anonymous said...

Red Queen,

This dude sounds like a self-centered jerk. Good for you.

Unfortunately, I confess some of my classroom behavior in a few history and poli-sci courses may have been interpreted in such a light. It was not, however, done for the purpose of complete self-aggrandizement. Rather, it was reaction to increasing frustration at seeing the minimization of human suffering and other negative aspects of Maoism from classmates with Maoist sympathies. This was especially galling as they knew I had family who lived and suffered due to Maoist inspired policies.

Sunshine Morningstar said...

This post brought me back to my University days. So many of my classes had that one guy that would try to derail the entire discussion...the only classes where that guy didn't exist were my women's studies classes!

The Red Queen said...

Exholt- the difference is that you were adding first hand knowledge to disabuse people of an idealized philosophy. This guy is just screaming so that the focus is all him all the time.

Sunshine- you have the exact same name as someone I went to school with. How bizarre! But I went to school in a little tiny mountain town in Northern California.

And yeah - women's studies is the only place you can go to escape them.

Anonymous said...

Red Queen,

As for self-absorbed jerks in the classroom, has anyone or a group of your classmates said anything to the Prof about how this is detracting from the class? What was the Prof's response?

In one grad class I took where there were a mix of undergrads and grad students, there was one grad student who would immediately dismissively critical of undergrads who attempted to participate in class discussion. This effectively intimidated the undergrads to the point the class discussions became dominated by that grad student with one or two others. Things came to a head when a few undergrads told me how intimidated they were. After some discussion, they asked me to talk with the Prof about this grad student. Upon doing so, the Prof promised to have a discussion with that grad student and those undergrads later felt the class dynamic has improved.

As for undergrad, The few self-absorbed jerks in the classes I took were usually put in their place within the first week by the Prof.

The Red Queen said...

The proff is really one of those types that likes lots of open communication- so I don't see him trying to shut this guy down because it would be anathema to his philosophy. That and it's still early in the quarter.

I tend to be good at thwarting these types (cause I'm a smart, mouthy girl) but if it continues I'll ask the proff. He and I are on pretty good terms.

Anonymous said...

Red Queen,

Good luck on getting that jerk put in his place.

I'm betting there are many more classmates who are not only annoyed, but possibly intimidated into silence by his dominating the discussion. If this continues...there is effectively no open communication for the rest of the class.

From your account, it seems he is lacking in the basics of how to respectfully interact with other people. Rudely interrupting people? Screaming in classrooms??? Sounds more like someone who has not matured past toddlerhood rather than a young adult attending college.

The Red Queen said...

Actually- I think he's my age (I'm 32) or close to it. So no excuses for bad behavior.